| 1804 | USA | The US inventor Oliver Evans builds a five-horsepower steam engine, which he drives 2.4 km/1.5 mi through Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its original purpose is to propel a scow, a water vehicle for dredging and cleaning docks. |
| 1834 | USA | US blacksmith Thomas Davenport constructs the first battery-powered electric motor. He uses it to operate a small car on a short section of track – the first streetcar. |
| 1862 | Belgium | Belgian inventor Etienne Lenoir constructs the first car with an internal combustion engine and makes a 10 km/6 mi trip. |
| 1876 | Germany | German engineer Nikolaus Otto patents the four-stroke internal combustion engine, the prototype of modern engines. Its development marks the beginning of the end of the age of steam. More than 30,000 are built in the following decade. |
| 26 January 1885 | Germany | German mechanical engineer Karl Friedrich Benz patents a three-wheeled vehicle powered by a two-cycle, single-cylinder internal combustion engine, pioneering the development of the motorcar. His car achieves a speed of 14.4 kph/9 mph. |
| 4 March 1887 | Germany | German mechanical engineer Gottlieb Daimler fits his engine to a four-wheeled carriage to produce a four-wheeled motorcar. During the same year he fits his internal combustion engine to a boat, creating the first motor boat. |
| 1890 | USA | US inventor John William Lambert builds the first automobile in the USA to be powered by an internal combustion engine: a single-cylinder, three-wheeled vehicle which he tests in 1891 at Ohio City, Ohio, achieving a speed of 24 kph/15 mph. |
| 1891 | France | French inventors René Panhard and Emile Levassar create a car to a design which becomes the basis for modern cars, by putting the engine at the front (which improves traction for the front wheels) and by replacing the typical leather drive-belt with a transmission, gear shift, and clutch. It is the first vehicle to be designed as an automobile rather than a modified ‘horseless’ carriage. |
| 1893 | Germany | German mechanical engineer Karl Friedrich Benz constructs his first four-wheeled car. |
| 21 September 1893 | USA | Brothers Charles and Frank Duryea, who own a bicycle shop, test the first gasoline-powered car built in the USA. |
| 22 September 1893 | USA | At Springfield, Massachusetts, US inventors Charles Edgar and James Frank Duryea demonstrate the first car built in the USA. It has a single-cylinder, water-cooled petrol engine, electric ignition, rubber tyres, and leather transmission. |
| 1895 | USA | More than 300 cars are in use in the USA. |
| c. 1897 | USA | The development of the electric street car makes the suburbs more accessible, leading to an expansion of the cities in the USA. |
| 1900 | USA | There are now 8,000 cars on the roads in the USA. |
| 1901 | USA | The mass production of cars in Detroit, Michigan begins when US car manufacturer Ransom Eli Olds produces the three-horsepower Oldsmobile buggy. The first car with a curved dash, it is also the first to be made using assembly line techniques and the first commercially successful car in the USA. |
| 1902 | USA | Scottish-born US car manufacturer Alexander Winton sets a land speed record of one mile in 52.2 seconds in his racing car Bullet No.1, at Daytona Beach, Florida. He is the first person to drive a mile in under a minute. |
| 1903 | United Kingdom | The first driving licences in Britain are introduced. They must be renewed annually. |
| 1903 | United Kingdom | The first motor taxis in London, England, appear. |
| 1905 | United Kingdom | A regular motor omnibus service starts in London, England, and the Bakerloo and Piccadilly underground lines are opened. |
| 12 August 1908 | USA | US car manufacturer Henry Ford of the Ford Motor Company introduces the Model T. Inexpensive (sold for $850), easy to maintain, and mass-produced after 1913, it revolutionizes transportation. |
| 1912 | Norway | Norway is the first country to introduce compulsory third-party insurance for car owners. |
| 1917 | USA | There are 4,842,139 motor vehicles registered in the USA, including more than 435,000 trucks, over half of world total. |
| 1919 | United Kingdom | W O Bentley launches the Bentley car in Britain. |
| 1919 | France | André Citroën launches the Citroën car in France. |
| 1923 | USA | There are more than 13 million passenger automobiles in the USA. |
| 15 June 1924 | USA | The Ford Motor Company announces the production of its 10 millionth automobile. |
| 1925 | USA | The first motel in the USA opens in California. |
| February 1936 | Germany | Adolf Hitler commissions Ferdinand Porsche to design a ‘people's car’ and the Volkswagen Beetle is born. |
| 1946 | Italy | Vespa scooters are brought onto the Italian market by Enrico Piaggio as a cheap form of transportation. Vespa means ‘wasp’ in Italian and refers to the noisiness of the engines. |
| 1 January 1954 | UK | Flashing directional indicator lights are made compulsory on cars in Britain. |
| 1956 | USA | US automobile companies manufacture about 6 million cars and 1 million trucks. About one in every eight cars is a station wagon. |
| 20 January 1958 | UK | Radar is first used in Britain to catch speeding drivers. |
| 10 July 1958 | UK | The first parking meters in Britain are introduced in Mayfair, London, England. |
| 18 August 1959 | UK | The Mini Minor car, designed by Alec Issigonis for the British Motor Corporation, is launched in Britain, costing less than £500. By 1965, one million Minis will have been produced, and the car becomes a symbol of ‘swinging London’ in the late 1960s. |
| November 1961 | UK | The first self-service petrol station in Britain opens at Southwark Bridge in London, England. |
| 14 February 1965 | UK | The British Motor Corporation manufactures the millionth Mini. Since its launch in 1959, the small car has become a significant status symbol for young people. |
| 4 February 1971 | UK | The prestigious Rolls Royce company, the manufacturer of luxury cars, goes bankrupt. To save face and to prevent job losses, the British government intervenes. |
| 1982 | USA, Japan | Japanese car manufacturers control 22.6% of the market in the USA, compared to 3.7% in 1970. |
| 1983 | UK | The wearing of seat belts by front-seat car passengers is made compulsory in Britain. |
| 4 October 2000 | UK | The classic Mini, the car that symbolised the swinging 1960s, rolls off the Rover production line at Longbridge, Birmingham, for the last time (bringing to an end 41 years of continuous production). |
| 17 February 2003 | England | The imposition of a £5-a-day charge on drivers bringing their cars into the centre of London, England, takes effect. The levy is intended to reduce congestion in the capital and improve the flow of traffic. |
